New genre of sugar-coated 'quantum dots' for drug delivery
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 - 16:28
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists in Switzerland are reporting an advance that could help tap the much-heralded potential of `quantum dots` - nanocrystals that glow when exposed to ultraviolet light - in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. They are publishing the first study showing that giving quantum dots an icing-like cap of certain sugars makes these nanoparticles accumulate in the liver but not other parts of the body.